


The Princess and the Eliksni

by ThatStupidDeer



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, Mara shows up at the end briefly but she is there, some kids being kids, some of my interpretation of how the Wolves operated within the Reef too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:27:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22371013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatStupidDeer/pseuds/ThatStupidDeer
Summary: Pyrin's first day in the Dreaming City is an interesting one.
Kudos: 6





	The Princess and the Eliksni

“Up, Pyrin.”

Pyrin trills as she’s disturbed from her sleep, and she stretches out with as wide of a yawn as her breather allows for. She blinks sleep from her eyes and looks up at the Captain crouching over her. When the Captain notices that she is awake, she leans lean to nuzzle the young Eliksni. 

“Come,” she says. “We need to get going. You can’t sleep the day away.”

“But, Mom…” Pyrin yawns again. She can already feel sleep creeping back into her limbs, making them heavy. “I’m sleepy, Mom.”   
  
“I know. But we’re in the Dreaming City now, you wouldn’t want to sleep away time to explore, would you?” her mother says with a rumbling chuckle that Pyrin feels more than she hears.

The mention of the Dreaming City makes every inch of her body hum with energy. The sleep is banished, and she is quick to her feet. She peers between her mother’s great legs to look out at the spaceport they have landed on and beyond. Yellow-green grass stretches out as far as the eye can see, and tall spires are visible, jutting from jagged cliffs. She can hear the crash of waves on rocky shores, and she can smell fresh water and mist. Her heart races with excitement, but also nervousness. She has never been so far from home before, and the Dreaming City looks nothing like the Eliksni sector of the Reef. It’s bright, colourful, and the sky is blue and she feels like she could fall into it if she doesn’t dig her claws into the earth.

“Whoa…”

“It is beautiful, isn’t it Pyrin? It will be our new home for the time being,” her mother says with reverence. Pyrin stays where she is, protected by her mother’s great form, and partially covered by her robes. 

“It’s so… open,” she says. She doesn’t have the words to describe it, but that’s the best that she can do. Her mother chuckles again, and steps over her, leaving Pyrin feeling exposed.

“Come. We need to reach the Palace. We are not far, but it is best not to keep the Kell-Queen waiting,” her mother says. Pyrin feels a chill run through her body at the mention of the Queen. She has heard of her, but in all of the things she has heard, she sounds like a figure of myth, not a real being. Her mother doesn’t seem to take notice of her hesitance, expecting her daughter to simply keep up as she moves from the spaceport and onto the worn path that leads to the grand Palace atop the cliffs.

-==-

Pyrin has never seen such extravagance. Great pillars of white, sparkling stone tower over them, holding up the Palace, and creating a wide courtyard that they have entered. The stone is smooth under her feet, and she feels like she might slip if she’s not careful. Statues of veiled Awoken women stand along the edge of the courtyard like guards; the stone they are made of sparkles in the false sun overhead.

The Eliksni pup is pulled from her thoughts at the sound of what she can only describe as a noise like the thundering of an engine, but not as uniform. Her mother grabs ahold of her and pulls her away from the approaching sound. It is not out of fear, but concern that Pyrin will get underfoot with how distracted and enamoured she is with the Palace, but that is no longer a concern. Her attention is entirely on the massive beasts that pass them at a great speed.

Now that the beasts are on the stone, the thundering noise they make has turned into a clatter. The beasts snort and call, a pitched noise that hurts her ears, and she watches as one brings its front legs off of the ground. The Awoken Queensguard on its back leans forward, and forces the beast to drop onto all fours once more.

There are four of them, all ridden by Queensguards. Two are black as pitch, though one has a perfect white circle between its eyes, and a fleck of white between its flared nostrils. The third is pure white from head to all four feet, and fourth is grey like slate, but covered in lighter grey spots and its legs are a glossy black. Their feet are hard like stone, and they clatter and click against the white stone that they stand on as they shift beneath their riders; the beasts appear impatient and eager to keep moving.

“Mom… what are those?” Pyrin asks in a whisper. Her mother gives her a baffled look.   
  
“The Queensguard?” she asks.

“No… the things they’re riding,” Pyrin clarifies, and she sees understanding cross her mother’s eyes.

“Ah. Of course, you have never seen them before, have you?” Pyrin shakes her head in answer to her mother. “Well, they are called horses. The Awoken ride them here, like we would ride pikes. They are their ground war vessels, and they can be just as powerful.”

“But… they’re animals… how could they be war vessels?”

“They are big, heavy, and a single kick could kill an Eliksni.”

Pyrin gasps and is quick to hide beneath her mother’s robes, which earns her a chuckle from the Captain. 

“They will not hurt you, my darling child,” she says. “They kill the Fallen of our kind if they must, not us.”

Pyrin stays where she is, still a little afraid, and even more so when she hears the clatter of the beast moving towards her and her mother. She peeks out to see the black beast with the white specks on its face standing close to them. She can hear its breathing, and she can smell it too; it smells of sweat and dry grass and heat.

“You must be Captain Niksos,” the Queensguard says to her mother. Pyrin peeks out a little more, and the black horse gives a snort when it spots her. The Queensguard simply pulls on the lines that lead from her hands to the mouth of the beast, unfazed by its slight start.

“Yes. Kell-Queen Mara has honoured me with an invitation to join her Court. My daughter and I arrived just earlier this morning, and my mate will join us when his contract in the shipyards has finished,” Niksos says.

“Welcome to the Dreaming City, Captain Niksos. It will be an honour to work with you here in Her Majesty’s Court,” the Queensguard says. “My name is Fesra.” She inclines her head to Niksos, and she returns the gesture. “Queen Mara will no doubt wish to speak with you, so you may continue on into the Palace.”

“Thank you, Fesra,” Niksos says, and she gently urges Pyrin to follow her. 

The inside of the Palace is no less extravagant; tapestries cover the walls with woven images of the Dreaming City, and some of the walls are inlaid with amethyst crystals so shiny she can see her reflection in them. She wonders if there is any reason for them to be here besides decoration, but when she reaches out to touch one, her mother slaps her hand away.

“Do not touch anything, Pyrin. This is not our home,” Niksos says sternly. Pyrin pouts, but nods and continues to follow her mother’s path. 

When they arrive at the entrance to the grand throne room, Niksos blocks Pyrin’s way forward. “I will speak with the Kell-Queen alone, Pyrin. This is not a place for a child,” she says. Pyrin feels her heart sink; she had been hoping to see if this legendary Queen was truly real, but her mother won’t allow it. “I know you’re disappointed, Pyrin, but today is not the day you will speak with Her Majesty. You are free to explore, but be careful, and listen to any of the Queensguards if they tell you not to go somewhere.”

Pyrin perks up and she stretches to her full height, though she doesn’t even reach her mother’s hip yet. “Okay! I’ll be careful, Mom, I promise!” she chirps. Her mother rubs the top of her head with a chuckle, and then shoos her off. 

“Go on, then. Meet me here before the sun sinks below the mountains,” Niksos says. Pyrin nods, and is quick to find the next hallway and scamper down it. 

-==-

The Palace is something of a maze, she is beginning to find. Most hallways lead back to the central entrance that leads out to the courtyard, but she is still finding plenty of twists and turns that take longer to find her way back from. She is finding it very fun, though, and she hopes she never runs out of places to explore here. 

Her thoughts are cut short by a snuffling noise, and then a low growl, similar to a noise her mother would make at her father when he tested her patience, but something more guttural, animalistic. She turns to see a great black dog approaching her, its head lowered and teeth bared. Pyrin backs up; she knows what a dog looks like, and she knows what an angry dog looks like. She remembers that her mother had told her that, if ever faced with an aggressive dog, to not run or it will trigger a chase response, and so, Pyrin remains perfectly still.

But her stillness doesn’t seem to have an effect, and the dog keeps getting closer. It barks several times, sharp, white teeth flashing with each ear-splitting bark. Pyrin cries out and covers her ears, and her noise seems to set the dog off, and it lunges. Pyrin can only drop down and cover her head in hopes that the dog can’t get at her head and neck.

“Riven!” 

There’s a squealing yelp and a heavy, almost hollow thump as something hits the ground. A wheeze near her face, and then the sound of something getting up.

“What the heck, Riven? That was mean! Are you trying to scare her to death?” a girl’s voice says admonishingly. Pyrin peeks through her fingers, and she sees an Awoken girl standing only a few feet from her. The black dog is slinking closer to the girl, and Pyrin hears the beast make a strange hissing noise.

“I wasn’t going to hurt her, dear Ronja,” says an older female voice. Pyrin sees the dog’s mouth move in a strange way, but she doesn’t make the connection. Slowly, she uncurls and sits up, looking between the dog and the girl.

“Oh! You are conscious. Cool! Sorry about that. Riven thinks it’s fun to torment new people. Er… I’m assuming you’re new. I’ve never seen you around here before,” the girl says. She drops down onto her backside to sit across from Pyrin with a grin. “I’m Ronja, by the way! I live in the Palace. What about you? What’s your name? Are you from here? Are you new?”

Pyrin can only gawk as the Awoken girl, whose name is apparently Ronja, speaks to her as if her dog hadn’t just tried to turn her into dog food. Her eyes flick to the black dog in question, and she watches as it sits, and then slides into a lying position just next to Ronja.

“Pyrin,” she finally croaks out. Ronja tilts her head.

“Pyrin. That’s your name?” Pyrin nods after a moment of complete stillness. “Okay, cool! Nice to meet you, Pyrin! We don’t have a lot of Eliksni kids around, honestly, so it’s neat that you’re here. Are you just here visiting, or is this like, where you live now?”

Pyrin hasn’t even answered the first round of questions, and yet she’s getting more. But the more Ronja talks, the more relaxed the Eliksni pup becomes. She’s not going to hurt her, and she seems to have the crazy dog under her control. “I think I’m here for good? I’m not really sure… My mom works for the Kell-Queen now, so she said we have to move to the Dreaming City for her to take the posting,” she says.

Ronja gasps. “Oh! Yeah! Mom told me about that! She said Captain Niksos would have a kid my age! That’s so cool!”

Pyrin giggles. “I guess. I just got here, though, so I don’t really know my way around very well…”

“That’s okay! Riven and I can help! My friends too! They’d love to meet you,” Ronja says, all but leaping to her feet in a single motion. The black dog rises as well and stretches with a yawn. Pyrin eyes those sharp teeth warily.

“Does the dog have to come?” she asks.

“Huh? Oh. You mean Riven? Yeah, she’ll be coming too. She doesn’t bite, despite what she did earlier. She’s usually pretty chill, she just likes to be mean sometimes,” Ronja says, waving it off. Pyrin huffs and glares at the dog, and she swears the dog gives her a wolfy grin in return. “Riven, you won’t bite, right?”

The black dog gives Ronja a long, lingering look. Pyrin isn’t sure if Ronja is meant to know what that means, but she seems to get something from it, and she pats the dog between the ears.

“Alright…” Pyrin says, not entirely convinced, but she’ll put her trust in Ronja for now. “You said you have other friends right? Can we go meet them?”

“Yeah! Let’s go! They’re just out this way!”

-==-

It’s late in the evening when Pyrin remembers that she’s meant to go back to the entrance to the throne room to meet her mother. She had spent the whole day playing with Ronja and her friends; they had a lot of fun games to play, and Ronja even showed her the horses her family owned, and they seemed much less scary when they were just grazing, or sniffing her hands.

She met other dogs too, but Pyrin had to note that their eyes seemed less… intelligent, unlike Riven’s. When the other dogs looked at her, all she saw was curiosity and want for attention, but when she looked at Riven, she felt like a person was looking back at her. No one else seemed to notice this, or they were used to it. So… she didn’t ask about it.

“Oh, no,” Pyrin says, when she realizes what time it is. “My Mom’s going to kill me! I promised her I would meet her at the throne room!”

“Oh, I can get you back there!” Ronja says. Riven follows her, ever the faithful hound. “I don’t think your mom will mind. My Mom probably knows you’re with me.”

“Why would that matter? My Mom is with the Kell-Queen! How would your mom know where I am?” Pyrin squawks. She knows she’s going to be in trouble. Her mother might ground her on her second day here, and that would make this so much less enjoyable!

“Oh, well, my Mom is––”

“Pyrin! There you are,” Niksos calls out as she enters the gardens that they’ve been playing their last game. Niksos seems somewhat relieved, but Pyrin doesn’t note any intense worry on her mother’s face, which is what she would have expected. An Awoken woman with pure white, shoulder-length hair stands next to her, and Pyrin notices that her mother is crouching so as to try and keep her head lower than the woman.

“Hi, Mom!” Ronja says, and the woman cracks a small smile. The black dog breaks off from Ronja to go sit at the woman’s side, and the woman reaches out to rub the dog between the ears affectionately.

“Come, Ronja, it’s time to go home,” the woman says, gesturing for Ronja to approach her. Ronja trots to her mother’s side.

“Ah, so this is the famed Princess Ronja?” Niksos says, and Pyrin feels her mandibles drop open.

“Mhm!” Ronja chirps in reply to Niksos, and the Captain gives the girl a deep bow.

“An honour to meet the future Kell-Queen,” she rumbles, and Ronja giggles, ducking behind her mother.

“Cool to meet you too! Sorry if I held up Pyrin, by the way. We were having a lot of fun, and kinda lost track of time,” Ronja says.

“It’s quite alright. It is good that Pyrin makes friends, especially now that we are here to stay,” Niksos says, standing back up some, though she remains crouched to keep her head lower than the Queen’s.

Pyrin slinks back to her mother’s side, looking over at Ronja.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were the Princess?” she asks in a whisper.

Ronja shrugs. “It didn’t come up, I guess? I dunno. It’s not really all that important.”

Pyrin opens her mouth to retort in surprise that Ronja didn’t think it was important, but Niksos, gently nudges her away.

“We’ll meet up again, right?” Ronja calls as Pyrin is led away by her mother. She’s already beginning to feel exhaustion from the day take over, and she almost misses Ronja’s question, but another nudge from her mother makes her turn back towards the Princess.

“Yeah, definitely!” she chirps in reply. “Where do you wanna meet next?”

“Palace gates! And then I can show you around properly!”

“Okay!” Pyrin says. She then scales her mother to cling to her robes and settle in for the walk home. She’s exhausted and ready to sleep, and yet, she still feels happier than she’s ever been.


End file.
